Numbers and Notes

In the university's 100th and DFE's 14th year, we have much to report on our commitment to finance education for undergraduates.

DFE offered 28 courses in the economics department with 1,099 enrolled students. The newest courses were in the areas of climate finance, real estate, and monetary and regulatory policy. Enrollment in DFE's Practical Financial Markets course for sophomores was 362 — 20% of the Class of 2026!

21 faculty, executives in residence, and instructors taught DFE classes. DFE's corps of educators include research professors, teaching-focused faculty, policy experts, and current and former financial markets professionals.

851 undergrads participated in DFE extracurricular programs.
For all class years, DFE provided more opportunities than ever for students to gain a deeper understanding of the financial markets; hone practical skills; give and receive mentorship; and interact with professionals in diverse roles and career stages.

105 firms engaged with DFE this year. Firm engagement is up 46% from five years ago, and more buy-side firms than ever are utilizing DFE resources to enhance their recruiting at Duke. Avenues for engagement in 2023-2024 included hosting site visits; sponsoring student competitions; participating in the DFE Mock Interview Days program; partnering on informational sessions on campus; and advertising internship and full-time opportunities via the 1,450-subscriber DFE student listserv.

347 alumni, parents, and friends were involved in DFE programs.
The "secret sauce" of DFE's success, our engagers reached an all-time high this year. Whether through giving time, expertise, or financial support, they made more possible: more educational, networking, and mentoring opportunities that boosted job offers, and ultimately, more students empowered to succeed in their careers.

Revisit our Fall and Spring updates for a detailed summary of each semester's activities.

Students walking in front of Social Sciences Building on Duke's West Campus

Courses

The economics department now has three possible course designations to help students differentiate the types of course content available to them: Economics (ECON), Financial Economics (FECON), and Financial Markets (FMKT).

See the wide variety of DFE courses offered this fall and spring.

Extracurricular Programs

DFE had something for every student, first-year to senior, and two new programs in 2023-2024.

Lecturing Fellow Lee Reiners and Instructor Steve Columbaro led three sessions of the new Finance Book Club. DFE's Student Advisory Committee developed and launched DFE Mentoring Pods, bringing sophomores, juniors, and seniors together into small groups to counsel one another through recruiting and internships.

Read more about DFE's extracurricular activities and the mentoring programs in the Eichel Finance Advising Network.

View the calendar of the year's extracurriculars below.

Listing Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 Extracurricular Programs by month; accessible PDF linked

A man gesturing at a slide presentation in front of people seated in a classroom

Zelter Family Distinguished Professor Andrew Patton presenting at the annual conference of the Society for Financial Econometrics (SoFiE)
Photo credit: Sun Kyun Kwan University, Seoul, Korea

The Year in Research

DFE's distinguished research faculty produced the following scholarly works in the last academic year.

News and Asset Pricing: A High-frequency Anatomy of the SDF by Tim Bollerslev, Juanita and Clifton Kreps Distinguished Professor of Economics et al.

Better the Devil You Know: Improved Forecasts from Imperfect Models by
Andrew Patton, Zelter Family Distinguished Professor of Economics et al.

Optimal Inference for Spot Regressions by Tim Bollerslev et al.

Optimal Nonparametric Range-based Volatility Estimation by Tim Bollerslev et al.

Dynamic Factor Copula Models with Estimated Cluster Assignments by Andrew Patton et al.

The Jump Leverage Risk Premium by Tim Bollerslev et al.

Forecasting and Managing Correlation Risks by Tim Bollerslev et al.

Closeup of overlapping currency, including a US dollar bill and other bank notes from around the world

Faculty in the Media

DFE-affiliated faculty spoke to major news outlets about a range of current events throughout the year.

Connel Fullenkamp, professor of the practice of Economics, commented on the U.S.'s record credit card debt, trends in consumer confidence, the effects of interest rates on personal budgets, and the financial outlook for Social Security and Medicare.

DFE Lecturing Fellow Lee Reiners gave his expert viewpoint on congress and the Sam Bankman-Fried trial, financial firms embracing cryptocurrency, the question of whether bitcoin is a good investment, and BlackRock running the world's largest bitcoin fund.

13 women posed in front of a large glass window that looks out on the Chrysler Building in New York City

Dzialga Women in Finance Initiative

In keeping with annual tradition, the sophomore fellows in DFE's Dzialga Initiative went on a two-day trip to Manhattan in October. They visited 7 firms and met 26 alumni. "I had an amazing time, learned so much, and was left truly inspired by this trip," remarked Malini Kamlani '26.

Program activities this year for all 30 fellows included group meals, a guest speaker event with an alum in the financial planning space, and a panel event with young alumni.

A group of sixteen mostly college-aged people standing together in a modern office building

Fifteen mostly colleged-aged people in business attire standing together in marble-floored lobby

Study Away

DFE brought 15 rising sophomores and juniors to London for six weeks last summer and 18 sophomores to New York for the spring semester.

The Duke in London Finance program featured courses taught by DFE Directors John Caccavale and Emma Rasiel, site visits to the Bank of England, TDR Capital, and AB Carval Investments, and cultural activities, including tours of Oxford, Parliament, and the Tate Modern.

The students on the Duke in New York Financial Markets & Institutions program had a lively spring semester, enjoying 16 site visits to firms, 19 alumni guest lectures, and outings to the Federal Reserve, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Morgan Library & Museum, and a Broadway show. John Caccavale and DFE Research Director Tim Bollerslev taught courses on the program.

Duke students in blue facepaint and Duke apparel cheering fiercely at the camera

To our Partners and Supporters

Year after year, we make it all happen together. Our deepest thanks to

The DFE Steering Committee, under the leadership of Craig Silberberg '99, A.M. '01

The DFE Student Advisory Committee

Our Duke partners in Alumni Engagement and Development, the Career Center, Continuing Education, the Department of Economics, Energy Initiative, Fuqua School of Business, Global Education Office, Law School, Nicholas School of the Environment, Pratt School of Engineering, Student Affairs, and Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Our corporate partners, who provide unrivaled opportunities to Duke students

Our alumni and parent engagers, who show up for Dukies every time and make the Duke network the best on the planet!